The present invention relates in general to integrated circuits and more particularly to a system and method for improving the speed of operation of integrated circuits.
Traditional integrated circuits may contain relatively long connections between circuit components. These wire connections or xe2x80x9clinesxe2x80x9d may be subject to Resistance/Capacitance (RC), diffusion, or other electrical effects that result in overall circuit time delays when switching these lines between high and low signal conditions. For example a 22-bit data stream may be spread across a line 1500 microns wide. Such a width, in addition to any gate and diffusion components attached to the line, constitutes a huge load on overall circuit performance and may result in significant delays. These delays slow the operation of circuits, such as a multibit comparator circuit used in Tag Static Random Access Memory (SPAM) to perform a wide logical NOR operation on wide data strings. The time required for a long loaded line to switch xe2x80x9cfull swingxe2x80x9d between a high and low signal condition limits the speed with which other circuit elements that depend on the switching may operate. Therefore, it is desirable to provide a system and method for improving the speed and operation of integrated circuits incorporating long lines.
From the foregoing, it may be appreciated by those skilled in the art that a need has arisen for a method of driving long lines with signal changes faster than full swing changes. In accordance with the present invention, a system and method for improving the speed of operation of integrated circuits are provided that substantially eliminates or greatly reduces disadvantages and problems associated with conventional methods of driving long lines.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a system for improving speed of operation of integrated circuits that includes a first voltage operable to provide power to the circuit. The system also includes a second voltage that is less than the first voltage and a third voltage that is less than the second voltage. The system also includes a node, wherein a first status is indicated when the voltage at the node is the second voltage and a second status is indicated when the voltage at the node is the third voltage. The system also includes an input of a switching element connected to the node and operable to switch upon the voltage at the node changing from the second voltage to the third voltage.
The present invention provides various technical advantages over conventional integrated circuit line driving techniques. For example, one technical advantage is to reduce the delays associated with driving long lines in an integrated circuit. Another technical advantage is to provide an ability to filter undesired electrical signals when processing a data bit stream. Other technical advantages may be readily ascertainable by those skilled in the art from the following figures, description, and claims.